Re: [tied] Re: Tauride.

From: John Croft

 

Mark wrote
> The Greeks called the Gallipoli Peninsula (the European side of the
> Hellespont/Dardenelles) the Thracian Chersonese. Homer suggests it
> was Thracian-speaking; modern scholarship suggests the Asian side
> was Anatolic-speaking.

There are some very interesting elements now being assembled from the Hittite Archives.  Muwatallis, the Labarnas (Emperor) of the Hittites who fought against Rameses II at Kadesh had a very interesting army including people from Willusa (Illios=Troy), Lukku (Lycians), Danuna (Danaans) and Ahhiawaya (Achaeans) and also Tyrrhenoi (Tarusha=Troas=Tyrsenoi) in his troops.  These people seem to have comprised the large and multi-ethnic Kingdom of Arzawa - a state to the west of the Empire.

When engaged against the Egyptians, a revolt and invasion by the Kaska, hill-tribes people to the north of Anatolia, had caused the monarch to abandon Hattusas, the capital for Datassa a city to the south.  This move was very unpopular, and with the appointment to the throne of Urhi Teshub, Muwatallis's infant son, as Mursilis III, a most unpopular and inexperienced young man the trouble was compounded. Kaska ran riot throughout the Upper Country, as the Hittite heartlands were called.  A pallace coup brought Urhi Teshub's uncle, Muwatallis's brother, Hattusilis III, to the throne. Hattusilis had made a very favourable marriage to the popular, strong and capable Padukhepa, priestess of the Ishtar temple at Kummana.  He had also adopted Kumbaba, the titulary diety of Carchemish, where he had been installed as governor, as his personal patron.  To simplify matters, he organised a peace treaty with the aging Rameses II, even sending a daughter to join the Pharaoh's extensive harem.  Hattusilis promptly supressed the Kaska and moved back to Hattussas (Boghuzkoy), restoring and rebuilding it as the capital once again.

The disruption, and the increased taxation required for the monarch's rebuilding program produced instability in the west.  The Kingdom of Arzawa was in insurrection.  A certain Atreus and an Eteocles were active in the vacinity of Miletus, and the king was forced to journey westwards to that city to put down the trouble. Greek mythology records that the house of Atreus was forced out of Anatolia and established themselves as Mycenae and eventually in Sparta at that time. Things seemed to settle down, but not for long.

The smooth succession to his son, Tudhalias IV belied the trouble that was to errupt. A Tarusha (?) Prince Alashkandush (Alexander = Paris), in alliance with the Achaeans, immediately began trouble on the western border, and pretty soon the seabord from Troy around to Cyprus was in revolt. The King was compelled to borrow ships from his ally and tributary king, the ruler of Ugarit to put down the Sea born insurrection, and conquer Cyprus, the base for much of this trouble. And then disaster struck.  A change of Dynasty happened at Wilusa (Illios). Tarusha (Tyrrsenoi) made alliance with the Thraco-Phrygian tribes on the other side of the Dardanelles to capture control of the city. Phrygian Mysi appeared in Anatolia, no doubt crossing from Thrace.  This cut the Dardanelles trade route that the Achaeans had used, and they attacked the partly ruined Troy VII to gain control of the straits once again. After a long struggle the Achaeans were successful but it was a pyrrhic victory. The Mysi (Mushki) made alliance with the Kaska and attacked the capital. Widespread famine errupted and the whole late Bronze Age ediface came tumbling down. In the West Anatolian "city" of Colophon, Mopsus, a man of Theban ancestry, managed to organise the people and lead them out of the starving villages and towns of Western Anatolia, in the migration that was to become known as "The Peoples of the Sea".

Interesting stuff.

Regards

John

Oh, yes, very interesting stuff. It's the transition from late Bronze to early Iron Age, the time when chariot warfare is in full flower, and it seems, sea warfare as well.

 

I would not mind reading more on this. What's your main source?

 

Mark.